Engines cutting out mid-air are a terrifying prospect, for any pilot. When the engines cut out on a massive B-52 bomber, that is a problem. It’s even more daunting when the bomber is flying near a populated area and it suddenly rolls hard to one side.
For three Air Force members on the Scout 94 crew, that was the reality they faced late in 2022. Capt. Charles Powell, Lt. Col. John Conway and Capt. Matthew Wells were preparing to land their B-52H Stratofortress at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana when four engines flamed out. For their recovery, the three were recently awarded the Air Force Global Strike Command General Curtis E. LeMay award in the outstanding bomber crew category, the Air Force announced this week.
Scout 94 took off from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada on Dec. 13, 2022 and was almost over when two of the bomber’s generators unexpectedly died. The plane was already on its descent toward Barksdale AFB, but when those generators died, so did a number of engines.
“As we began to lose altitude, I could hear Captain Powell call to restart the engines and he informed me that we had lost 4 engines on one side,” Conway said in the Air Force’s release.
B-52s have eight engines, so an entire half of the bomber was suddenly without power. That’s not a good situation, for anyone. Even worse, there were severe thunderstorms in the area, and when the engines died the bomber entered an “uncontrolled” left roll. The B-52 was descending quickly, over Bossier City, Louisiana.
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Three minutes after the sudden outage, Powell was able to get two of the dead engines restarted, which helped the crew regain control, the Air Force said. It was not a moment too soon, as the B-52 was only roughly 1,200 feet above the ground. Powell, in control of the plane, veered right to get back on course and the plane was able to safely land on the runway at the base, with only six engines. According to the Air Force, the bomber had suffered “multiple catastrophic failures” that could have ended in disaster, but instead the crew successfully averted a tragedy.
“It was fast and intense, and there wasn’t time for discussion, just action,” Walls said. “In my opinion, everyone fell into their role and did what was required.”
The B-52 has a strong safety record, given the sheer amount of years it has been in service. The most recent incident was in 2016, when a B-52H assigned to the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron crashed during a failed takeoff at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. The crew was able to safely evacuate.